A conventional built-in cooking appliance of this kind has a top plate unit shown in FIG. 8, which is a typical one for an induction-heating cooking appliance. As shown therein, the top plate unit includes a top plate sandwiched between an underframe and a frame with predetermined portions of such members bonded to each other. The top plate unit so constructed is placed on a kitchen counter with a lower surface of the underframe held in contact with an upper surface of the counter.
More specifically, as shown in FIG. 8, an induction-heating cooking appliance 41 is provided with a top plate unit 42, which includes an underframe 44, a top plate 43 placed on the underframe 44, and a frame 45 placed on the top plate 43 from above with predetermined portions of such members bonded to each other by means of an adhesive 46. The top plate unit 42 is fixedly mounted on a main body 47 with any suitable tightening means such as screws so as to close an opening defined in the main body 47. When the induction-heating cooking appliance 41 has been incorporated into the counter 48, a lower surface of the underframe 44 of the top plate unit 42 is held in contact with an upper surface of the counter 48, thereby supporting the total weight of the induction-heating cooking appliance 41 and holding the induction-heating cooking appliance 41.
A typical built-in gas cooking stove has been also proposed, having a top plate directly placed on an upper surface of a counter so as to be flush therewith (see, for example, Patent Document 1).
FIG. 9 depicts an example of a conventional built-in cooking appliance as disclosed in Patent Document 1. As shown in FIG. 9, a gas cooking stove 51 includes a gas burner 52 disposed substantially at a central portion thereof, a top plate 53 placed on an upper surface of a kitchen counter 54, and a tripod 55 mounted on the top plate 53 so that a pan or pot may be placed on the tripod 55 and heated by the gas burner 52. The gas cooking stove 51 has a main body 57 and a flange 59 secured thereto and placed on a shoulder portion 58 that is formed in the counter 54 so as to be lower than the upper surface of the counter 54. The flange 59 supports the total weight of the main body 57 and holds the main body 57.                Patent Document 1: Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication No. 11-166739        